Graduate School Research bites series, summer 2014

During July the Science and Technology Graduate School will be offering a series of short library based sessions, aimed at postgraduate research students. The aim of these short sessions is to introduce a small number of key topics for researchers at a convenient time of day. They will also provide a networking opportunity, and raise the awareness of the support available from the Library.

Sessions will be informal and last 20 minutes, with time for questions and answers.

'Do you need to submit an electronic thesis?' Wednesday 9th July, 12:00-13:00
Find out why you need to submit your thesis online, show you how to do it, and address your worries about plagiarism and publication.

'Impact factors and all that' Thursday 10th July 12:00-13:00
Understand the importance of impact factors for you, the University and your funding body. Discover the most common metrics, and address your concerns.

'What about Patents?' Thursday 17th July. 12:00-13:00
Learn about the unique nature of patents and how to find them.

'What you need to know about Open Access', Thursday 24th July 12:00-13:00
Learn why Open Access is important and how the Library can support you through it.

'Social media - tools and tips for researchers', Friday 25th July 12:00-13:00
Get an introduction to how social media can work for you as a researcher, and address issues such as privacy.

'Open session', Thursday 31st July, 12:00-13:00
We'll aim to help you get past your research barriers and answer any Library-related questions you have.

Each session will follow a similar pattern addressing Why?How?What now? and Who can help?

We will send out further details to all registered participants at the beginning of July, which will include confirmation of the time and venue for these sessions.

Newton Fund

The Newton Fund is part of UK's development assistance. Its aim is to develop science and innovation partnerships that promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries. It covers 3 broad categories of activity:

Translation: innovation partnerships and challenge funds to develop innovative solutions on development topics

Of a particular interest is the Newton PhD programme. This includes opportunities for international training and development at the doctoral level, including incoming and outgoing PhD scholarships, international placement of PhD students, joint international training pathways, and exchange of students and staff.

Talks

The Bizarre World of Low Temperatures

As part of the university's 50th anniversary celebrations Lancaster's Distinguished Physics Professor George Pickett FRS will give a public lecture on the topic of ultralow temperatures. He will be joined by Nobel Laureate and honorary graduate Professor David Lee from Texas who will talk about his experience of winning a Nobel Prize.

Because "girls can't do science"

Lancaster Environment Centre's first Athena SWAN talk, on Wednesday 16 July, will be given by Professor Ellie Highwood (Head of Department, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading). All are welcome to attend.

The paper presented, Observations of a Software Engineering Studio: Reflecting with the Studio Framework, introduces the School of Computing and Communications novel approach to teaching software engineering through the use of a "studio", an alternative to traditional lecture-oriented courses. The paper discusses its specific implementation, shares some observations from a year-long study, and reflects on these with Christopher Bull's previous publications. Studio education affords a variety of highly desirable benefits (promoting several human-centric aspects of learning, including collaboration, mentoring and peer-learning, to name just a few), and is also popular amongst its students. This publication adds to a growing portfolio at Lancaster of publications about studio-based education in software education, and is the first specifically about SCC's studio implementation.

The paper and presentation made a positive impression on the software engineering education community, with the paper forming countless discussions about the innovative approach to teaching software engineering at Lancaster University, which is reflected in the "Best Paper" award.

News

Recent stories from Science and Technology:

Businesses urged to take advantage of the UK's top physics department

Businesses have the opportunity to tap into the resources of the UK's top physics department.

Innovative technology start-up business Hardy & Ellis Inventions Limited are set to offer organisations in Manchester the latest in cutting-edge interactive technology thanks to a Technology Strategy Board grant worth more than £70,000.

IBM 'Mightily Impressed' by SCC Students' Talent in App Development

Every year, as part of the School of Computing and Communications' SCC.210 module, second-year students are expected to combine their self-directed learning skills with their teamwork skills and carry out a group project.